You might recall that the FCC made the absolutely stupid decision of banning foreign made routers that are consumer grade. One thing that I missed while writing that story is that by March of next year, any routers that are already out there would be prohibited from getting security updates. That’s straight up a #fail because if this exposes anyone who has a router to getting pwned once updates stop. Which is what this this scheme is meant to protect Americans against.
Well I guess the FCC got a clue because it appears that they have reversed course on this according to Tom’s Hardware:
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Friday, May 8, through its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), that it was extending temporary waivers allowing certain foreign-produced drones, drone components, and consumer routers to continue receiving software and firmware updates in the United States.
In late 2025 and early 2026, the FCC added these categories of equipment to its “Covered List,” which effectively blocked already-authorized devices from receiving post-approval software and firmware modifications. The agency subsequently issued waivers permitting critical security and functionality updates to continue through January 1, 2027, for drones and drone components, and through March 1, 2027, for consumer routers.
Under the updated waiver, manufacturers of affected devices will now be allowed to continue issuing software and firmware updates until at least January 1, 2029, provided the devices had already been authorized for use in the U.S. before being added to the FCC’s “Covered List.” The extension also broadens the waiver to include certain Class II permissive changes involving software and firmware updates intended to mitigate consumer harm.
At least they have come to their senses on this front. But this is still a dumb idea. If the FCC thinks that router companies will magically teleport their manufacturing to the US and that will somehow make routers safer, they are mistaken. But I guess this is one of these things that the FCC will find out the hard way.
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This entry was posted on May 10, 2026 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags FCC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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The FCC Will Allow Foreign Made Routers To Get Firmware Updates
You might recall that the FCC made the absolutely stupid decision of banning foreign made routers that are consumer grade. One thing that I missed while writing that story is that by March of next year, any routers that are already out there would be prohibited from getting security updates. That’s straight up a #fail because if this exposes anyone who has a router to getting pwned once updates stop. Which is what this this scheme is meant to protect Americans against.
Well I guess the FCC got a clue because it appears that they have reversed course on this according to Tom’s Hardware:
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Friday, May 8, through its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), that it was extending temporary waivers allowing certain foreign-produced drones, drone components, and consumer routers to continue receiving software and firmware updates in the United States.
In late 2025 and early 2026, the FCC added these categories of equipment to its “Covered List,” which effectively blocked already-authorized devices from receiving post-approval software and firmware modifications. The agency subsequently issued waivers permitting critical security and functionality updates to continue through January 1, 2027, for drones and drone components, and through March 1, 2027, for consumer routers.
Under the updated waiver, manufacturers of affected devices will now be allowed to continue issuing software and firmware updates until at least January 1, 2029, provided the devices had already been authorized for use in the U.S. before being added to the FCC’s “Covered List.” The extension also broadens the waiver to include certain Class II permissive changes involving software and firmware updates intended to mitigate consumer harm.
At least they have come to their senses on this front. But this is still a dumb idea. If the FCC thinks that router companies will magically teleport their manufacturing to the US and that will somehow make routers safer, they are mistaken. But I guess this is one of these things that the FCC will find out the hard way.
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This entry was posted on May 10, 2026 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags FCC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.